Are We Good?

By | August 12, 2019

        Kuya Badong: “Give the devil an inch; he’d want to be a ruler.”

        Kabesang Betong: “Ibaon ang problema. Bigyan na natin ng anim na ruler!”

        *****

        Tandang Andoy: “An idle mind is a devil’s factory.”

        Tatay Kaloy: “Kaya pala ang taas ng employment rate ng mga zombie.”

        Tandang Andoy: “For clarity, I said idle mind.”

        Tatay Kaloy: “Just think! Keep away from a zombie that moves faster than you and your walker.”

*****

        Lolo Tiago: “Tasyo, how are you?”

        Impong Tasyo: “I am good. Thank you.”

        Lolo Tiago: “I know we had differences. Are we good?”

        Impong Tasyo: “I am good. Thank you.”

*****

        Ate Magda: I wish that summer street food and cultural festivals are shown more on television, to tell the world that we respect our differences and diversity and that we do enjoy living, working and playing with each other.

        Tiya Amelia: Tawag ng Tanghalian fans, are we good?

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        But what’s happening, about and around?

        Alas! Prime TV has lately been teeming with disturbing flashes of incomplete and sometimes confusing data highlighting 11 to 14 shooting incidents during the most recent long and supposedly exhilarating weekend.

        If these were film footages for the Toronto International Film Festival that is not due until September 5, then I would have done an Alfred E. Neuman “What Me Worry?”

*****

        Say what??!!! That there are only gunshot injuries; paling in comparison to the mass shootings that wracked grief, anger and loud calls for stricter gun control measures with harsher penalties across the border?

        Come on! Innocent victims getting hurt by guns used by criminals is no laughing matter.

        When do we really get serious in ridding streets off irresponsibly-used weapons; in saving unsuspecting lives and protecting undeserving limbs from ‘to whom it may concern’ bullets?

*****

        Aling Kikay: “A frustrated musician turned so serious top Upper House honcho wrote a song on gun control.”

        Mareng Saling: “Is the title of the single NRA Unplugged?”

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        Someone said: “A mental case pulled the trigger, not the gun.”

        I say: “Without a gun, a million mental cases with two million hands cannot pull a trigger.”

*****

        A case in a cuckoo’s nest walked out of a hospital, went to an airport and flew away.

        Unperturbed, a nut went through a hospital door and had a whiff of fresh air.

        See. No guns. But are they good?       

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        Mental stress appears to be a growing phenomenon in North America.

        Perhaps, I should start to access and acquire the knowledge and skill to think shrink.

        However, it’s a no deal with a person pointing a colorful water gun at me and asking me to take a shower.  

*****

        Confession of Kaka Temyong: Never bought a gun in my life. I never used one too.

        But after seeing the first movie shown at the Roman Cinerama Theater in Manila, my dad bought me a wooden rattler shaped like the fiery stick of The Rifleman and sounded like that of Sgt. Chip Saunders’ in Combat.

        Yup! The movie was How The West Was Won, in 1964.

*****

        Vote now.

        Those in favor of banning the gun, say aye.

        All those in favor of gunning the ban, say nay. 

*****

        Incidentally, Japan led the Free World in marking and memorializing the 74th anniversary of the atomic bomb drops in the Japanese cities of Hiroshima (August 6, 1945) and Nagasaki three days later.

        The twin mushroom blasts killed between 129,000 and 226,000 people, mostly civilians.

        Wikipedia noted that the United States detonated the two powerful bombs with the consent of the United Kingdom, as required by the Quebec Agreement.

        On August 15, 1945, Japan surrendered to the Allies and ended World War II fighting in the Pacific.

*****

        Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui, in a peace declaration, noted: “Around the world today, we see self-centered nationalism in ascendance, tensions heightened by international exclusivity and rivalry, with nuclear disarmament at a standstill.”

        CBC News reported: Matsui urged leaders to steadily work toward achieving a world without atomic weapons.

        Now, now! This is larger than handguns and rifles!

*****

        Recent news: North Korea tests short-range missiles.

        Iran unveils precision-guided missiles.

        Philippine politicians cannot seem to agree on how to handle an epidemic of measles!

        Kung walang sanction sa kanila, gapatuka na lang ako sa cobra.

*****

        The largest recycling center in the US has closed and fired (this is worst than a gunshot) its 750 workers.

        A news report noted: Its president said operations stopped due to rising business costs and falling prices of recycled aluminum and PET plastic.

        Business and economic analysts term it as the rise and fall of waste and garbage.

*****

        Observation ni Lola Tomasa: Tuwing may salo-salo sa park ang mga grupong Pinoy, kapansin-pansin ang kanilang galing sa recycling.

        Tingnan mo ang mga opisyal.

*****

        Siguro, ang gagaling din nilang mag-karaoke, dagdag pa ni Lola Tomasa.

        Tantiya ko lang, tuwing eleksiyon, ayaw nilang bitiwan ang mike. #####